Why did we spend so long grinding for this mount? Its ability! I am by no means a mount collector. I got this for its ability. The fact there will be items to let us water walk is irrelevant. Why not add the damn items to let you water walk on any mount but leave those of us who did that long a** rep grind to get the mount alone. Allow us to keep the water walking on it as a reward for working hard for the mount. Seriously blizzard why not work on something worth while and actually useful. Rather than taking away things we have had for years! If this was a huge problem you would have gotten rid of it ages ago. I do not see a problem with having water walking on a mount. If it was a problem whats the point of adding items to allow you to water walk with any mount? Seriously this makes no sense!
I never felt âlockedâ into the water strider because the [Summon Random Favorite Mount] button was smart enough to select it when I needed it.
Iâve got like 40 favorites selected. Flying, striders, swimmers, class/race/profession-specific⊠it just figures it out fine.
And, with the exception of the start of âTol Dragorâ, I never see âa bunch of people on water stridersâ.
Oh the horror! I get essentially the same thing and the option to get even more! Bad Blizzard, bad!
Blizzard donât want to take the meager gold this game has left you out of your pockets.
They want to create a general need for more gold than most players will accumulate in this game so players grow to accept a need to buy a weekly token.
If youâre not a whale (a person with no self control, who just buys everything they see,) youâre not wanted.
Iâm not answering anything else in your post because I agree with every word you wrote.
I agree with you 100% and that is one of my top concerns. For those who think this will not happen, only look at what has happened in the past.
I also thought your post was very well thought out and echoes my opinion! Thank you for taking the time to post it.
Others should take the time to read it.
The simple fact that itâs crafted equipment - and Blizzard hates for non-current crafting to have any utility - lends credence to the idea that the equipment slot will be nerfed or removed, if not in 9.0 then soon after.
Sad to say, but I have to agree with you. This appears to be blizzardâs way of weaning us off of the strider and water walking. They probably figure that since flying is coming, people will opt for the barding. Then they can introduce some other strange equipment to take the place of water walking and then when next xpac comes, it will have been a year since we had it and people wonât miss it.
They do appear to be learning from past mistakesâŠtheyâre just learning to say what the âinfluencersâ want to hear while they boil the frog more slowly, rather than how to make a better game.
I understand that they WILL be craftable only by BLACKSMITHS. So be prepared to shell out some dough!!
They will be sold cheap for people with Walter Striders by the Anglers Quartermaster. People who donât have Walter Striders will have to buy from blacksmiths. But I do have my Walter Strider so I will get it cheap 
Adding onto this, you can vendor the water-walking equipment for 1g, which means itâs going to cost somewhere in the range of 3-10g.
I always thought the water striders should have been slower on land.
That is an odd statement to make unless that is how you personally feel. However, I did not acquire my strider because of its looks. I could care less about its appearance. The reason I worked on the fishing dailies was to obtain it was for its water walking abilities. Prior to that I used the water walking pots when I needed them, but the mount was more convenient.
i got my staider in MoP i better be able to use at at least 85 plus.
Itâll make it more âimmersiveâ too, although I think Blizzard misunderstood the term and took it to mean the striders should be immersed in the water.
can we also remove particle effects or anything unique on mounts that have it (especially the shop ones) and make all mounts just horses? Then sell appearances that alter your horse with effects for real money. Maximum immersion.
It seems that every patch seems to take away game advantages that I worked hard for years ago and have been using all along; this removal of the water walking ability for the water strider may just be a deal breaker for me, Blizzard! Maybe itâs time for me to find a new game after twelve years! And in anticipation to those that say, âDonât let the door hit you in theâŠâ, I say, âYou might say that now, but when enough people that have gotten tired of Blizzard reversing earned perks quit playing, those few of you left playing wonât find so many players to support your game play needs; after all, itâs supposed to be an MMORPG, but without the masses, you donât have much of a game.â
Everytime a new âWoW Killerâ was to hit the market, so many people said âonly Blizzard will kill WoWâ. I get the feeling this is more true than we thought years ago.
I am all for change and trying out new ideas, but all honesty some of the things going on in this expansion has me scratching my head.
Ah ha! I just figured this out. Blizz will add an additional mount equipment slot in the store for $50. (Per toon) Sheer brilliance! They can double their profits.
noâŠweâre being ripped off for work already done and having what we worked for sold to us again at âdiscountedâ price. ![:roll_eyes:](https://d38bqls1q93fod.cloudfront.net/en/wow/images/emoji/twitter/roll_eyes.png?v=6" ":roll_eyes:")